Recruitment of Vision Professionals What is Being Done

Recruitment of Vision Professionals… What is Being Done About It? AER LIFT Webinar May 14, 2014 1

Presenters: Ø Audrey Dannenberg, M. Ed. , M. A. , COMS, CVRT, former TVI, Vision Outreach, LLC, and Chairperson of the AER Professional Personnel Recruitment Committee (PPRC) Ø Laura Bozeman, Ph. D. , COMS, CLVT Associate Professor/Director: Vision Studies at University of Massachusetts, Boston 2

Presenters… Ø Michael Munro, M. Ed. , TVI Co-Program Director, Teacher Preparation: Visual Impairment, Stephen F. Austin State University and member of the AER PPRC Ø Tina Herzberg, Ph. D. , TVI Associate Professor and Director of Special Education – Visual Impairment Program University of South Carolina Upstate and member of the AER PPRC 3

Presenters … Ø Ginger Croce Senior Director of Marketing & Operations, AER, and member of the AER Professional Personnel Recruitment Committee 4

AER Professional Personnel AER Recruitment Committee (PPRC) 2012 -2014: Ø Audrey Dannenberg, Vision Outreach, Charlottesville, VA Ø Barbara Mc. Carthy, VA Department for the Blind & Vision Impaired, Richmond, VA Ø Michael Munro, Stephen Austin State University, Nacogdoches, TX 5

AER Professional Personnel Recruitment Committee (PPRC) 2012 -2014… Ø Tina Herzberg, University of South Carolina Upstate, Spartanburg, SC Ø Matt Hogel, US Veteran’s Administration, Fort Lauderdale, FL Ø Ginger Croce, AER, Alexandria, VA 6

Agenda Ø 1) Goals of AER PPRC Ø 2) What are some University programs doing to recruit? Ø 3) Where do we go from here? Ø 4) Conclusion Ø 5) Questions/Suggestions 7

1) Goals of PPRC The plan: Ø Recruitment flyers: O&M, TVI, revised VRT, and LVT 8

The Flyers Ø Input from dozens Ø Bulleted format Ø Completed, posted on AER’s website, November, 2013 Ø Options for printing Ø Available for distribution 9

1) Goals of PPRC … Ø Develop a system for recruitment in North America 10

The System ØEstablish an organized, consistent and documentable system for recruitment ØProve over the years with numbers if the system is working 11

2) What are Universities Doing to Recruit? Laura Bozeman, Massachusetts 12

Need in New England, VA, and PR Ø State Dept. of Ed. Count #s Served Currently Connecticut 429 Maine 95 Massachusetts 642 New Hampshire 130 Rhode Island 69 Vermont 30 Virginia 618 Puerto Rico 644 952 262 2, 036 460 352 254 886 1, 024 TOTALS 2, 657 6, 226 Ø Ø Ø Ø 13

Accurate Counts are Elusive Ø Students with significant visual impairment estimated ~93, 600 o (Kirchner & Diament, 1999) Ø 10, 800 reported blindness only Ø 37, 500 reported low vision only Ø 50, 100 reported at least one additional disability 14

VI and Additional Disabilities Ø 60% of students with VI have additional disabilities o Hyvärinen 2011; Mason, Davidson, & Mc. Nerney, 2000 Ø Students with additional disabilities likely reported in a category other than VI 15

Adult Counts Ø 1 in 6 Americans (17%) over 45 y/o: some visual impairment not corrected by glasses or contacts Ø Prevalence increases with age Ø For those over 64 y/o = 21% or 7. 3 million o Lighthouse National Survey on Vision Loss, 1995 16

University Recruitment in a Low Incidence Field Ø University preparation programs are designed in different ways Ø There a variety of recruiting methods and some are more effective for a particular university Ø A unique problem: many have not heard of the profession so recruitment is often paired with marketing 17

Recruiting Methods: Ø Word of mouth Ø AER recruitment flyers Ø Ø Ø Banner on professional organization website Program-specific fact sheets State liaisons: recruit, network, connect students to professionals 18

Recruiting Methods… Ø Small signs in shuttle buses Ø University website (highlighting vignettes), newsletters, etc. Ø Programmatic website Ø Networking with Carroll Center and Perkins 19

Recruiting Methods… Ø Periodic emails (programmatic information) to Departments of Education, Rehabilitation Agencies Ø Conference presentations on the Regional Model 20

2) What are Universities Doing to Recruit? Michael Munro, Texas 21

Recruiting Methods: Ø Texans recruited to the field through collaborative effort with Texas School for the Blind, Stephen F. Austin State University, and Texas Tech University Ø Program/recruitment information hosted on the TSBVI site and on sites in both universities 22

Recruiting Methods… Ø Job fairs Ø Teacher fairs Ø Campus recruitment (rehabilitation, nursing, and undecided majors) Ø The statewide network for leadership in visual impairment periodically sends training program information to districts across the state 23

Recruiting Methods… Ø Work with 20 visual impairment representatives at the regional education service centers to recruit, train, and support new professionals Ø Work with special education directors across the state to meet urgent needs and/or recruit 24

Recruiting Methods… Ø Still, even with these activities, most of the candidates developed through word of mouth Ø Our professionals recruit other quality professionals Ø An additional source of new positions in the field is the result of professionals (TVI’s and COMS) advocating for more assistance 25

Support and Collaboration Ø Ø TSBVI provides mentors to new candidates once they begin work for 2 years. TSBVI also hosts and covers costs for travel to facilitate new teacher involvement in trainings in Austin 3 -4 times per year. We are active with three different advisory/action groups who help recruit across the state through different agencies and entities. These groups have also provided leadership for change in legislation to improve services. 26

Support and Collaboration… Ø Both programs (only two in Texas) supported with funds from state and/or federal grants Ø Grants support candidates in the state with monies for tuition and fees Ø Also serving students in border and other states through distance education. 27

Universities: Ø Ø Both programs in the state are operating at or near maximum capacity Both seek to develop “homegrown” teachers across the state to meet local needs Numbers of teachers and specialists have steadily increased over time This steady increase is mirrored by the steady increase of students over the same period 28

Attrition: Ø Attrition of professionals from the field felt at all levels Ø Texas expects to lose between 10 -15% of current vision professionals over the next 3 years 29

2) What are Universities Doing to Recruit? Tina Herzberg, South Carolina 30

There is a Need: Ø An increase of 127 students with visual impairment in South Carolina from January 2013 to January 2014 (10% increase in the total student population) Ø The number of VI professionals has remained stable (96 TSVIs as compared with 95 TSVIs two years ago) 31

The Need… Ø Forty (41. 9%) of the 96 TSVIs are retired yet working or eligible to retire (SCSDB, 2014) Ø Eight of the 19 (42%) practicing COMS are retired yet working or are eligible to retire 32

Recruiting Methods: Ø Hold a series of open houses across the state each spring Ø Share an overview and provide hands- on activities as part of EDFO 341: Introduction to Special Education courses here at USC Upstate 33

Recruiting Methods… Ø Share an overview and provide hands- on activities to high school Teacher Cadet groups Ø Have a table at the SCAER conference each fall to share updated materials with TSVIs and O&Ms (They are fantastic recruiters!) 34

Recruiting Methods… Ø Currently updating recruitment materials with the assistance of a graphic designer Ø Have approached university about designating a graduate assistant for the VI Program 35

3) Where Do We Go From Here? Ø Establishment of AER professional personnel recruitment position at the Chapter level 36

Recruitment position: ØRecruitment vs. Awareness- need both ØEstablish position within each Chapter if not already there 37

Recruitment position… Job description: Responsibilities: Ø Ø Actively recruit specific vision professionals from all fields (TVI, VRT, O&M, LVT) via personal contacts, networking, emails, listservs, etc. to provide recruitment activities within state/province Maintain contact information list (email, phone number, address, county) of all vision professionals providing recruitment activities within state/province 38

Recruitment position… Responsibilities… Ø Ø Maintain chart of where and when individuals provided recruitment activities within state/province and what type of recruitment activity was provided Every six months provide progress report to Chairperson of the Professional Personnel Recruitment Committee regarding total number of recruitment activities provided within the state/province 39

Recruitment position… Duties: Ø Create chart of where recruitment activities can occur based on chart provided by Committee Ø Find individuals to provide recruitment activities at these locations on an annual or regular basis 40

Recruitment position… Duties… Ø Note any gaps of areas within the state/province where recruitment activities are not occurring. Try to fill those gaps. Ø Maintain contact with vision professionals so chart can be maintained Ø 41

Recruitment position… ØRecruit for this position at conferences, on listservs, get on Chapter agendas, etc. 42

Charts for Person in Recruitment Position: Chart of Where Presentations Should Occur (to recruit to the vision field): Ø Universities/Community colleges: special education classes; regular education classes Ø OT/PT graduate school classes 43

Charts for Person in Recruitment Position: Chart of Where Presentations Should Occur (to recruit to the vision field): Ø Career Fairs Ø Vendor Fairs Ø Parent Support Groups 44

Charts for Person in Recruitment Position. . . Chart of Where Presentations Should Occur (to recruit to the vision field): Ø Guidance counselors Ø Ophthalmology/Optometry offices Ø Ophthalmology/Optometry residency programs 45

Charts for Person in Recruitment Position. . . Chart of Where Presentations Should Occur (to recruit to the vision field): Ø Superintendents Ø Directors of Special Education Ø Principals Ø Associations/conferences with PT’s, OT’s, SPED Directors, etc. 46

Charts for Person in Recruitment Position… Chart of All Vision Professionals doing Presentations: Ø Contact information (name, address, employer, phone, email) Ø Where vision professional is doing presentations 47

Suggested Syllabi/Guidelines for Each Type of Presentation: Ø Recruitment flyers Ø Develop suggested handouts: definitions; tips on working with individuals with visual impairments 48

Suggested Syllabi/Guidelines for Each Type of Presentation… Ø Show ’n Tell List: canes, Braille alphabet, games, etc. Ø Power. Point gets boring: hands-on activities to do during presentation 49

Suggested Syllabi/Guidelines for Each Type of Presentation… Ø DVD ideas to show Ø Guidelines for specific presentations to OT/PT market as may be a good source of recruits 50

Update the AER Website: Vision Professional Section Ø Each Division to revise their section and include recruitment flyers so information is accurate for potential recruits 51

4) Conclusions: Ø Long term: work with Personnel Prep Division to determine if this system is working. Ø Find out where their students heard about the profession 52

4) Conclusions… Ø The future: no guarantee. It is an idea but not to the exclusion of what is already being done that might be working Ø This is a different way of approaching the shortage: an organized, systematic, consistent way that has not been done before 53